After the Games
by Hemione Jean Weasley
Summary: Katniss never volunteered to take Prim's place, and now that the games are over, what will happen? Peeta won over Katniss' heart with his attempt to save Prim, but what will happen now? Crappy summary, better story! Please read and REVIEW!


**Hey guys! My first one shot! This is what happened after the games, but this time, Katniss didn't volunteer.**

"_Katniss,_

_I can't do this. The tributes, they are like machines. I don't stand a chance. The only station I was good at was the one for herbs and medicine. I could barely throw the knife five feet. I tried, I really did. But I just can't do it. I will still try my hardest to come home, I will. But if I don't, take care of Buttercup for me, okay? And Lady. And mum. I know you said if I believe that I can win, that I will, but it just doesn't seem possible. But I will try._

_I think you'll like what I'm wearing to the opening ceremonies! I'm not allowed to say what it is, but trust me, you'll like it. I think you would like my stylist. His name is Cinna, he is sweet and kind. And he doesn't want me to be all dolled up for the ceremonies, he said he wanted to show my natural beauty. I wish you could meet him, and do my hair, you were always the best at doing my hair._

_I'm scared Katniss. This is a serious competition, and I'm the weakest one. Except for maybe the other twelve year old, Rue. I like her, she is nice, I think I might ask her to be in an alliance with me, what do you think? _

_Maybe I really can win this. If I stay away from everyone and hide in the trees (if there are trees) when the last few come to find me, I can pick them off from up above. That would be awesome, wouldn't it? Not the killing, just the fact that I would get to come home, to see you. You really think I can make it though, right? I trust you more than anyone in this world, so if you think I can make it, then I believe you. So I will try my hardest to train, really train, and learn how to kill, hunt and perform any other type of combat that I hate, so that I will come home. If you believe in me, I know I can do it. I know I will make it home, because you are there, waiting to see me, and I'm here, waiting to see you. Wish me luck, Katniss. I love you. I'll see you soon._

_Love Prim"_

Those were her last words to me, "I'll see you soon." But she won't see me, and I won't see her. Never again. Because she's dead. He tried to save her, he really did. He kept his promise, he even took a spear to the heart to try to keep her alive, but it didn't work. He died and so did she. I'll never be able to repay the boy with the bread, because he's gone to somewhere I can't be. When the spear hit him, he told her to run, but she wouldn't. They were allies and she wouldn't leave his side. That's how they killed her, they snuck up on her while she was grieving. And when he died, his last words were spoken to me. I'll always remember them, "I tried." That's all he said, but those two words meant the world to me. It meant that he really had tried to save her, he gave up his life for her, for me. Slowly he bled to death with Prim watching, tears silently pouring down her face. There was nothing she could do. She held his hand until the very end, long after it had gone limp. She still clutched it when the hovercraft came and raised the two fallen tributes into the sky. 19 canons before hers. The one that killed her, killed Peeta too. She's the one that won. Her name is Clove.

From her letter, I can tell that she actually had learned something from all those hunting trips to the woods. I always thought they were useless, but I guess not. She learned to keep to the trees. That was her plan, "pick them off from up above." But Clove got there first, while Prim was still grieving, Clove made her way into the forest. Later, while Prim was still with Peeta, she snuck up the tree behind her and shot her with an arrow. It was relatively quick, straight through her head. The pain only lasted a couple minutes, and then she was gone. She fell forward, and I could just make out a little duck tail in the back of her uniform, before the hovercraft came and took her away. My little duck.

I put the letter aside and slip into my hunting boots, I feel the soft leather caress my feet. Hunting is my only source of comfort now. Mother doesn't talk to me, and I don't talk to her. I'm fine that way, talking to her only makes it worse. I have Gale, and Madge and Greasy Sae. I open the door and feel the bitter frost nip at my uncovered skin, it's the end of March, but it's still freezing. I look out into the barren wasteland that is district 12 and notice something; a glimmer of hope. Peeking out, against all the odds that weren't in my favor, from the snow covered ground, is a single yellow dandelion. I pick it up and feel my spirits lift, if only a little bit. And I think of him. The boy with the bread. It was the day after he had given me the bread when I saw a single dandelion, standing alone in the schoolyard, blowing gently in the wind. It brought hope, it was the first sign of spring, which meant tessarae was coming soon. And the bread from the day before had saved our lives. I think of that final moment before the hovercraft carried him away. He was smiling, smiling up at Prim as he died, reassuring her that everything would be okay, even though it wasn't. He died before I could repay him for saving our lives, so now I will always owe him, but I can never do anything about it.

I have to keep moving, I'm already late. I continue through the town square and stop in front of the bakery. _Closed._ It's never closed, not even on reaping day, but it is now. There are no beautifully decorated cakes sitting in the window because the person that creates them is dead. But I'm glad they aren't there because I no longer have anyone to look at them with. Prim and I always took a detour to the bakery, no matter where we were going. She loved to look at those damn cakes. _Forget it_, I think. _She's dead and there's nothing you can do about it, so move on._ I know it's true, even if I don't want to accept it, so I peel my eyes away from the bakery and head towards the woods.

When I arrive at our meeting place, he's already there. Gale. I knew he would be, he's never late, especially not now, he always wants to be there for me, which is why whenever he sees me, he greets me with a look of sympathy and sorrow. Something I didn't think he was capable of feeling. He grabs my hands and gently guides me down to the rock and tells me to sit. I do.

"I've been thinking," he says. When I don't respond, he takes it as his cue to continue, "We could do it you know? Run away. We've got nothing to lose now. Poppy's dead, and my mom can look after the rest. I've taught my brothers enough to be able to sustain the family, they know how to hunt well enough. And of course, my mom will look after yours. And that's everyone taken care of." The list is too short, there should be at least one other name on there, if not two. But I have to admit, it does sound like a good plan. Prim is gone and she was the only one I looked after. And mother, but who cares, she didn't take care of us when father died. Gale's mom can look after her, just fine. So if everyone is taken care of, why shouldn't we run away? We have no life here anyways! And if we get caught and they kill us, well, like I said, we don't have lives here. But what about Buttercup, and Lady?

"I can't. I promised her I would take care of Buttercup and Lady if she couldn't anymore." I refuse to say the "D" word out loud.

"My mom will know, and so will yours, that they need to be looked after. They won't just leave them." He says.

"But she asked _me _to look after them, no one else."

"As long as they are looked after, that's all she'll care about. And besides, don't you think she would rather want you to escape than be bound here because of her animals, that someone else can look after?" he asks.

I do. So for the first time in my life, I take Gale's hand and we run through the forest, and we don't look back. Together, we wonder, what _really_ is on the other side?


End file.
